Zimbabwe has told the Libyan ambassador and his embassy staff in Harare to leave the country after they defected to the National Transition Council (NTC).

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NTC has been fighting to topple long-time Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi since February and there are signs the battle is nearing its end.

Libyan ambassador to Zimbabwe Teher Elmagrahi on Wednesday led his countrymen in Zimbabwe in raising the NTC’s red, black and green flag. But President Robert Mugabe’s side of the Zimbabwe coalition government said the pulling down of the old Libyan flag was illegal.

The Foreign Affairs ministry said Zimbabwe had relations with the Gaddafi Government not the NTC, which it does not recognise.

“If the ambassador of the embassy of the Libya Jamahiriya in Harare and his staff defect to the National Transitional Council, they will cease to have legal status in Zimbabwe and will be requested to leave the country immediately,” the ministry said in a statement. “Flying the flag of the National Transitional Council in Harare is an illegal act.”